2
No doubt you are the people , and wisdom will die with you!3
But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these ?4
I am become one who is a laughingstock to his friend; I, one whom God answered when he called upon Him--a just, upright (blameless) man--laughed to scorn!5
In the thought of him who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune--but it is ready for those whose feet slip.6
The dwellings of robbers prosper; those who provoke God are secure; God supplies them abundantly .7
For ask now the animals, and they will teach you ; ask the birds of the air, and they will tell you;8
Or speak to the earth , and it will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you.9
Who not to recognize in all these that it is God's hand which does it ?10
In His hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.11
Is it not the task of the ear to discriminate between words, just as the mouth distinguishes food?12
With the aged is wisdom, and with length of days comes understanding.13
But with are wisdom and might; He has counsel and understanding.14
Behold, He tears down, and it cannot be built again; He shuts a man in, and none can open.15
He withholds the waters, and the land dries up; again, He sends forth , and they overwhelm the land or transform it.16
With Him are might and wisdom; the deceived and the deceiver are His .17
He leads counselors away stripped and barefoot and makes the judges fools .18
He looses the fetters by kings and has waistcloth bound about their loins.19
He leads away priests as spoil, and men firmly seated He overturns.20
He deprives of speech those who are trusted and takes away the discernment and discretion of the aged.21
He pours contempt on princes and loosens the belt of the strong .22
He uncovers deep things out of darkness and brings into light black gloom and the shadow of death.23
He makes nations great, and He destroys them; He enlarges nations , and leads them .24
He takes away understanding from the leaders of the people of the land and of the earth, and causes them to wander in a wilderness where there is no path.25
They grope in the dark without light, and He makes them to stagger and wander like a drunken man.